Chains
by I Give Headaches To Aspirin
Summary: They always knew that Cobal engineering would catch up to them. But they always assumed that Cobb would be the one to deal with the torture. Unfortunately, they were wrong. Dead wrong.
1. Chapter 1

"LEAVE HIM ALONE! HE DIDN'T DO ANYTHING! PUNISH ME DAMMIT!" Cobb yelled furiously at the man in front of him.

Cobal engineering had finally caught hold of them and captured the whole team, even Saito. They were demanding why they had failed the job and how to do inception so they could do the jobs themselves.

Cobb had refused to talk, staring defiantly at them. They pointed a gun at each one of the team and saw his eyes flicked with fear when they aimed it at Arthur.

"We have a winner." The man smirked.

He pulled Arthur up by the neck, making the point man choke for air and threw him at another thug. The thug grabbed Arthur by the arms, restraining him as the other man laid into him.

They had heard cracks as his bones cracked and snapped and each and every one of them screamed furiously at the men to let him go.

Arthur looked up at Cobb and through the fear and pain that filled his eyes, the extractor could see the look that screamed 'don't tell them anything'. Cobb hated leaving Arthur to be tortured like this, but the point man would hate him if he told them the secrets of extraction and inception.

They watched helplessly as he was beaten to a bloody mess and dropped to the floor. The two men spat on him before walking out.

The team watched, holding in their breath as they watched their teammate's form with wide eyes.

Was he…dead?

They sighed in relief when he groaned, shifting painfully to lie on his side.

"Arthur, I am so sorry. That should've been me getting tortured. Not you."

"Cobb, you have kids. They would have killed you. They already lost their mother; it's not fair if they lose their father too. And like I told you when I first started the job; I'm with you." He smiled weakly at them, blood covering his face.

"Just rest Artie, we'll get out of here, don't you worry." Eames said gently, a reassuring smile on his face. Arthur grinned gratefully back and closed his eyes, falling into a pained and dreamless sleep.

The team looked at him worried. If they didn't get out of here soon and get him medical attention, he could die from bleeding out, infection, or the thugs could kill him to get information out of them.

They would get out of there, not for themselves, for their point man that had shown his loyalty to them time and time again.


	2. Chapter 2

*After a few reviews requesting this to be continued, I thought, awww, they made me feel really happy so why don't I do the same for them by giving them a new chapter. So Thank you **Don Dorcha **and Ni**kkitaIronBlade.94 **for the wonderful reviews. And I hope you like chapter 2 ^ ^ Well enough from me. Here's your chapter!*

The next few days were torture, watching Arthur get beaten for information et still refuse to give it.

The Point Man that was usually full of so much energy and had that bright spark in his eyes at all times, was a mess.

He was covered in dirt, sweat and blood, lying on the floor unconscious. His clothing was torn in places and his breathing was ragged. They were sure that he had a few broken, at least bruised ribs and a broken arm.

He drifted in and out of consciousness, muttering deliriously before succumbing to the blackness again.

The team were starting to panic and they were very close to giving away information. The only thing stopping them was what they could make sense of Arthur's muttering.

"Don't….don't….tell…" They the rest became incoherent.

They all tensed as one of the thugs wrenched the door open and grabbed Arthur by the back of his shirt, heaving him up to stare at him in an almost sick kind of satisfaction.

The position the point man was in was making it very difficult to breathe as the shirt was pressing against his injured ribs and his breath came in short gasps.

"Ready to give up any information?"

The team shook their heads though their friendship with Arthur was screaming at them to just tell the thugs what they wanted to know.

The thug smirked and dragged him over to a large metal container full of water.

"Sure now?"

The team glowered at him.

"Fine."

He pushed Arthur's head under the water before he had a chance to take a breath and suddenly the point man's strength came back. He struggled with the large man but soon began to weaken as he was held under the water.

"JUST STOP ALREADY! YOU'LL KILL HIM!" Eames yelled, his eyes flickering in fear.

The man threw him onto the ground and they stared, breath hitched in their throats as he didn't move. They almost collapsed in relief when he started weakly coughing up water.

The next few hours were hell as they had to watch Arthur get forced under the water again and again. The thug eventually got bored and left, but they could all see the difference.

Arthur was still coughing up small amount of water and shivering in his soaked clothes. The thug had been careless and chucked the point man anywhere and luckily for the team, it was close to them. Very close.

Saito paused before leaning forward and gently grasping Arthur by the shoulders, stretching his chained arms until he had a good grip, and dragged him closer. He winced at the low groan the movement produced.

He dragged him up so he was leaning against him and then moved him over to Cobb who looked at him gratefully before pulling the point man close.

The extractor wrapped his chained arms around the younger man as best as he could and Eames pressed against Arthur as well as they did their best to keep him warm.

The shivering reduced some and he fell into a painful and restless sleep. He twitched and shifted, often mumbling deliriously throughout.

Cobb and Eames just held on tightly, the worry was really starting to set in and al they wanted was to get out of there so they could get help for their point man.

He would do the same for any of them.


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry for the lang absence of update, but I had severe writer's block when it came to this fic. I only just managed to get this fic out of God knows where. I hope you enjoy it despite how short it is, and I hope to get more ideas for this from my muse soon.**

* * *

The whole team jolted awake as the cell door slammed open, the sound of the barred door hitting the wall echoing around the cold, damp stone room.

"Ready to tell us anything?" The leader said, walking forward with a small smirk on his face. He crouched and went face to face with Cobb, and his smirk grew when he got nothing more than a venomous glare in response. He turned his head slightly to signal to the thugs behind him and then turned back to the leader, only for the man to spit in his face.

The man's smirk disappeared as he pulled out a handkerchief to wipe it away with a disgusted grimace. He got up and glared at Cobb. "Your friend will suffer for that."

The man and the thugs slammed back out of the room and the cell became silent.

Cobb's body became cold as fear filled him. What had he just done? He had made everything worse for Arthur just because of his stupid pride and arrogance.

He looked down as he felt Arthur touch his arm and gave a small smile at the honey brown eyes looking up at him.

"Don't s-start."

"What DO you mean?" Cobb asked, grinning slightly in amusement. He was happy to see the humour reflected in the brown eyes.

"Q-Quit starting to b-blame yourself." Cobb's grin started to fall. "B-Besides, you d-did what I wanted to do. I w-wanted to spit at him you b-bastard."

The extractor chuckled quietly, wondering what he'd do without the young man. He was good company, especially after Mal died. He had only really gotten through with Arthur's help, the man was so self-less it was painful. His sacrificial nature showed right now, as he took the torture just to keep information safe.

It was all for them.

He looked over at the rest of the team, and saw that the small conversation had amused them also. It was nice to see a little of Arthur's spirit come back, even if it was only a little. They were just worried that it would get ripped away again any minute now.

* * *

"Is it ready?" The man said, walking into the laboratory with the two thugs behind him. The terrified scientist jumped in fright. He didn't even want to be here, he had been taken from his home just like the people in the cell, except he had been made to make something that could be incredibly dangerous to any human.

"I-It hasn't been tested Stevens. It could kill him for all I kn-"

"Is there a problem here?"

"N-No sir."

"Good." Stevens shot the man without a word, his face impassive as the scientist fell to the floor, a look of shock and fear on his face even as his eyes lost all life.

Stevens lifted the syringe up in front of his eyes to look at it. He tapped the bubbles out of it with a smile. The scientist had done it before he died at least. Did the man really think he was going to keep him alive after he was finished? He laughed quietly to himself. That man was a fool. He would have died either way, and now he could have just damned another.

"Well, he said it hasn't been tested. So let's go test it!"

* * *

The team were getting sick of the sound of the barred door slamming open, having heard it countless times over the past few days.

Eames and Cobb shouted and then glared in anger as Arthur was ripped away from them and held up in the air by his neck. The Pointman didn't even have the strength to struggle anymore. He just hung there, his lungs working furiously to try and get some oxygen even as his airways were restricted.

"Are you going to tell us now?"

Stevens' eyes narrowed and he clenched his hand tighter. The man handing from his hand started choking lightly, finally clawing feebly at his hand as the unavoidable panic of getting suffocated started setting in.

"You really want a dead subject?" Eames drawled, acting calm despite the fear for his favourite stick in the mud's life. What would he do without his favourite stick in the mud? It was unthinkable for the man not to be there for him to argue and bicker with as the rest of the team shook their heads and grinned at the familiar nature of it all.

"Hm, you're right. Let's see how you like this instead."

He lifted his other hand and stabbed a syringe viciously into the man's neck, injecting the contents as the rest of the team looked on, confused, suspicious, and panicking. What the hell had he just given Arthur.

"Burn, baby, burn." The man chuckled darkly.

Stevens dropped Arthur in a heap on the floor and just laughed before leaving the room leaving the team even more confused and panicked.

"Arthur?" Ariadne called hesitantly.

They had expected either of two things. For him to respond, or to not. What they hadn't expected, was for Arthur to roll on his back and then start screaming.

Their eyes widened as Arthur started writhing like he was in a fire, and then they understood what Stevens had meant.

They could only watch as Arthur writhed on the floor, unable to move to help him, and unable to move to comfort him.

That was probably the hardest thing.

They were helpless.


	4. Chapter 4

_**Here ya go**_** NikkitaIronblade.94**_**. Please don't die now, I would hate to lose a reviewer :P I hope you enjoy this chapter, I know you may hate me a little for some pats, but I'm trying not to give too much away. I was going to make the end a pretty big cliff hanger, but then decided I couldn't be THAT cruel. So here you go, chapter four. Please read and review!**_

* * *

Arthur's voice was soon lost, but he kept on twitching, sweat beading on his face. The team was nervous now, wondering what was going to happen to Arthur the more this continued.

They didn't know how long had passed before the cell door opened again. There wasn't really any way to tell what time in was. And it wasn't like they kept track, they were too focused on what was happening to Arthur.

"Well, how's our little toy doing hm?" Stevens said, smiling in a way that was completely unsuitable for the situation, but that was just him. Strange...and sadistic.

One of the new subordinates walked over to Arthur, who was only half-conscious, and turned him onto his back to look him over. He shined a torch in his eyes to see the pupil reaction, checked his pulse and other things they couldn't tell. But this man seemed more gentle than the others, he must have been the medic of this part of Cobal, and didn't feel right treating even the prisoners badly.

"Jason, how is he doing?" Stevens snapped impatiently.

"Almost no pupil reaction, his pulse is fast, he has quite a few broken bones, severely dehydra-"

"I don't care; I just want to know if he's going to pull through this little test."

"It looks like he will sir."

"Hm, maybe I shouldn't have killed that scientist then. I'll have to capture a new one to make a mixture that will actually kill."

"Why can't you just use existing poison?"

"Because this one causes the most suffering." Stevens smirked. "It feels like the victim is burning alive. There is the option of an antidote if anyone gives information, but this mixture is no good. If he's starting to recover, we need someone to make it stronger. C'mon Jason, back to work."

"But sir, there are many other things I need to treat on him so tha-"

"Come Jason!"

The medic gathered his things and gave an apologetic look to both the team, and the unconscious Arthur, before exiting the cell.

A relatively small amount of time passes before Arthur groaned and shifted slightly.

"Arthur, darling are you back with us?" Eames called, using the nickname that The Pointman threatened to punch him for every time he said it, but never did.

"Stop c-calling me that E-Eames." He groaned, weakly raising a hand to his head.

"You know you like it when I call you that Love." Eames smirked. "How are you feeling?"

"Like hell, what k-kind of question is t-that?" Arthur said, his voice not at all controlled as the disbelieving tone slipped out of his usual monotone.

"...Well...I guess you're right on that one. That was a rather stupid question."

"Thank you, for your contrib-bution E-Eames."

The forger grinned, remembering the exact same words he had said to Arthur when they were preparing for the Fischer job.

"Forgive me for wanting a little specificity Arthur." He shot back. The point-man jerked in a snort of laughter, obviously following his train of thought.

"It's not about being specific." Cobb said. "Sometimes people can feel worse than they look."

He looked confused when Arthur and Eames started laughing quietly.

"What?"

"You just completed the conversation."

"What conversation?"

"Nothing, me and Arthur were just repeating something from the Fischer job, don't you remember?" Eames said, looking at Cobb like he was an idiot. The Extractor paused before realizing what had been said before.

"Oh come on, I didn't even mean to repeat that." He glared playfully at Ariadne who had started giggling quietly; Yusuf was smirking and even Saito was shaking his head.

"Shut up." One of the guards said as he walked past and banged the bars, making them flinch at the harsh noise.

"Asshole." Eames muttered as the guards walked off.

"Y-You can say t-that again."

"Asshole." Arthur rolled his eyes at The Forger's antics. It was a small comfort, the familiar banter and conversation between them all, which was why the team was doing it. They wanted to try and comfort Arthur with something familiar so he wouldn't lose grip on reality, even if this wasn't a dream.

But they really wished it was.

* * *

Jason cursed as he dropped a piece of his medical equipment on the floor. He picked it up, grumbling and muttering all the while whilst he cleaned it again, placing it down carefully away from the edge of the metal table.

He had been analysing this poison that had been used on one of the prisoners for about an hour now, looking at the symptoms and comparing them with other poisons, trying to figure out whether this would be fatal or not.

He had lied to Stevens, he had no idea if the man would pull through. It looked like he would so far, the mixture of the poison cancelling other parts of it out with others. It was like it was all neutralising itself due to the opposite compounds used to make it.

"That scientist must have done if purposely." He muttered to himself, looking through his microscope at the slide which held a little of the poison. The light green liquid was a complete mess of different substances, and when you looked at it, you could tell that the scientist had thought long and hard how to mess it up. "He must have known it was going to be used on a prisoner, and mixed it up so it would show the effects, but not kill."

He sighed as he heard one of the guards telling the group in the cell to shut up, and banging the bars loudly just to spite them. He hated this job; he had started out just in a hospital, when he had been offered this job for more money. He hadn't been told what it was, and by the time he found out, it had been too late to back out. But oh how he wanted to.

He could look over the people, his patients, in the cell, just to check they were alive and would continue to be until Cobal was finished with them, but he wasn't allowed to treat them. Stevens was the leader of this little part of Cobal, the interrogation part for when employees failed to complete a job and refused to give a reason why. But this was a whole new story. Inception? Cobal wouldn't be able to handle it, they wouldn't know what to do if the instructions came up and kicked them in the ass. They were just too thick headed.

His mind went back to the man that had been in the cell. Arthur, he thought his name was. The man was obviously being used to try and get information out of the team, that much was obvious. But he was confused as to why none had been given yet. The team always had that look in their eyes, like they wanted to, but couldn't for some reason.

The only reason he could think of, was that this Arthur chap wouldn't let them. He wouldn't let them tell Cobal under the same reasons Jason thought Cobal wouldn't be able to handle Inception. It was a difficult task which could be devastating if done wrongly. There had been many cases of suicide, people losing memory, people losing who they were. And that percentage of Inception mistakes would rise if Cobal knew the secrets.

But Cobal wasn't going to let this team go without some information. Unless...

Jason shook himself, trying to dislodge the thought. He could get killed for trying that. But...he couldn't stand this job anymore, stand watching his patients suffer and be helpless to do anything about it. It went against all of his medical training.

So he made his decision, and decided, that he would break them out if it was the last thing he would ever do.


End file.
